The Elwha River Dams

The Elwha River is one of the Olympic Peninsula's major streams. During a period perhaps more notable for reckless optimism than respect for natural resources, two hydropower dams were built on the Elwha River. These dams, which generate relatively little power by modern standards, have virtually destroyed the Elwha River's rich fish runs and completely disrupted the economic and social life of the Elwha Tribe.

Olympic Power Company began construction of the first dam, the Elwha Dam, at river mile 4.9 (about four miles above the present-day reservation) in 1910. In October 1912, the sluice gates were closed and the reservoir began to fill. On October 31 the foundation of the dam failed. Indian families living downstream were sitting down to dinner when their dogs started barking and they heard a roaring sound mixed with the sound of tree trunks breaking. There are still Tribal elders alive who remember the adults grabbing the small children and running to high ground. There was property damage but no loss of life. The Klallam's received no warning, although there is some indication that non-Indian farmers in the valley were warned. No compensation appears to have been paid.

The dam had been bedded on a deep gravel deposit and water pressure blew out the foundation. Various methods of repair were attempted. It was finally decided to fill the hole with debris and seal the fill with "mattresses" made of fir boughs weighted in place with dirt and rock. Later a layer of "gunnite" (a type of concrete) was sprayed on top of the fill. What resulted, and what exists today, is a jury-rigged patchwork of trees, rocks, dirt and concrete held in place by gravity and the original concrete structure which "bridged" the blowout. That conglomeration of materials, assembled by trial-and-error to hold back a large mountain river, is the capping irony in the history of the Elwha Tribe's attempts to live in peace.

In 1925-27, under a 1926 Federal Power Commission license, Northwestern Power and Light Company constructed a second dam, Glines Canyon Dam, at river mile 13.5. That dam, like the Elwha Dam, was not equipped with fish passage facilities.